At the motel in the City,
"Lily, I have some free time now. Now you can tell me, what according to you, I apparently taught you that I don't remember ironically." Ash interacted with Lily mentally on his room in the motel. His voice was curious.
"Sure, master. As you wish..." Lily replied with a devoted smile. Then, she began to continue,
"Master, according to you, in the entire cosmos, which is beyond imaginations, three concepts have existed for eternity. 'The Concept of Manifestation', 'The Concept of Authorization', and 'The Concept of Obliteration'. To reach to the vicinity of these supreme concepts, three types of cultivation techniques have been invented.
Resistance, Resonance, and Rebirth.
What you had taught me, master, was regarding the 'Resonance' cultivation techniques. According to you, in the cosmos, thirty-two core seeds and sixteen core artifacts have existed since time immemorial. Each core seed represents the core qualities of these concepts and each core artifact represents the core domains and authorities of these concepts.
However master, as my memories gradually will return, I will be able to tell you more deeply about these mysteries. As of now, I can only able to tell you about my seed's core essences.
But yeah, two facts are very crucial to be aware of before hearing my descriptions. The first fact is, these three concepts co-exist simultaneously within every seed. And the second fact is, we, the seed-bearers are nothing but just the vessels of these seeds' supreme powers. So, even if any bearer dies in any accidents, that bearer's seed will first turn into stardusts and then after some times, those stardusts will return back to the cosmos.
So master, which seed I possess is called as 'Manas Seed'..."
"Wow, what a alluring name of the seed!" Ash became surprised but didn't stop her from continuing her speech.
"... Yeah, it represents the mind and consciousness of the cosmos. It has the core quality of the spectating mind and collective subconsciousness. This seed's core essences are Spectating Mind, Collective Subconsciousness, Eye, Thought, Spirituality, and Astral World.
Any being's mind appears individual, but they share recurring dreams, fears, symbols, and collective ideas. And this seed represents the infinite possibilities of these collective similarities arise from deeper connections between collective consciousnesses. This seed can create infinite possibilities in the targets' mind and thoughts. It governs recursive awareness. In addition, this seed doesn't merely represent thoughts, rather it represents the space in which a thought is born, becomes a subject of observation, and ultimately dissipates.
This seed can interact with both individual and collective mental structures. It can influence thoughts, dreams, attention and perception. It can detect any mental activities without targets' sensory knowledge. It can allow thoughts to form internal worlds, realistic dreams, and hidden psychological structures to become accessible.
Overall, as the astral world is its territory, it can do whatever it wants with the others' mind and subconscious world..." Saying that, she finally paused.
Ash was continuously absorbing all those informations voraciously.
"Wow, Lily! Now I can clearly understand why your awakening directly banished me from entering fairy Lin's territory..." Ash became overwhelmed with surprise and excitement.
"Who is fairy Lin, you just mentioned? Do I know that person?" Lily was faintly curious.
"Don't mention her name casually. She is a great person. She guided me into this mysterious supernatural world, by telling many intricate hidden rules behind the dangers of this world. Although I don't know much of her, I can confidently tell you that, she is not a bad person at all. RIght now she is in a deep meditation for her some kind of advancement process. The encounter with her, made me motivated to become a supernaturally very strong individual just like her..." Ash's voice was filled with pride.
"I'm extremely sorry master. I was just simply curious. I do also want to meet with that great person."
"No worries," he murmured, his voice barely more than a whisper. "Now I just want to rest. My body has been through a lot of strain."
There was no strength left in his words. Only exhaustion, as though every breath carried the weight of everything he had endured since past few days.
Slowly, the numbness began to spread through his body. His fingers grew cold. His limbs felt strangely distant, almost as if they no longer belonged to him. Even the reunion that had given him temporary excitement and enthusiasm moments ago seemed to fade into the background.
He slowly drifted into sleep…
Finally allowing himself the rest his battered body had been desperately begging for.
In a valley on the Mountain Forest,
The valley lay beneath the mountain like a forgotten kingdom, drowned in mist and silence.
Above it rose the great peak; a monstrous crown of black rock and ancient snow, its summit piercing the bruised heavens. Its slopes descended into vast moors drowned in heather, crooked pines clawing at the earth, and ravines where the fog gathered so thickly that the world seemed to end only a few paces beyond the worn track.
The mountain was never entirely visible.
Clouds coiled around its shoulders like funeral shrouds, sometimes tearing open beneath the moon to reveal a glimpse of the white summit. On such nights, the peak appeared almost supernatural; a pale, dead thing watching over the valley from beyond the reach of men.
A narrow river wound through the valley, black beneath the clouded sky. It moved without hurry, slipping between enormous stones slick with moss, its surface broken only by the occasional silver reflection of the moon. Along its banks stood ancient trees, their branches twisted by centuries of wind. They leaned toward the water as though listening to secrets buried beneath it.
The hills were covered in dark heather, rolling endlessly toward the horizon. Here and there, solitary boulders emerged from the grass like the gravestones of giants. No dwellings broke the landscape. No hearth-smoke rose into the air. There were only the ruins of an old stone hall near the edge of the moor, its roof long collapsed, its doorways empty and black.
Even the wind seemed afraid to linger.
It came down from the mountain in long, mournful breaths, carrying the scent of wet earth, pine, and distant snow. When it passed through the valley, the heather trembled in waves, and the trees whispered among themselves in a tongue older than any clan or kingdom.
At dusk, the valley became something else entirely.
The last light bled across the clouds, staining them a deep crimson before darkness swallowed the horizon. The snow upon the summit caught that dying glow for a moment, turning the mountain the colour of old bone.
Then the mist rose.
It crept slowly from the river, spilled across the fields, and climbed the slopes like a living thing. Within minutes, paths disappeared beneath it. Stones became shadows. Trees became silhouettes. The familiar world dissolved until the valley seemed suspended outside the reckoning of time.
And somewhere beyond the mist, the mountain remained.
The people of the nearest settlement had a name for the valley, though few were willing to speak it after sunset.
They called it 'The Valley of the Sleeping Horror'.
In the midst of the valley, a small hut stood hidden from everyone's view. Within the hut, the gentleman was absorbed in silent praying. His entire material body was complete motionless, like ice. It seemed like he had crossed the thin line of reality and his body seemed suspended beyond the reckoning of space and time.
Although in everyone's eyes it was a sleeping horror, for the gentleman, it was a golden opportunity to him.
As the saying goes, every cloud has a silver lining. Just like a dark cloud has a bright, silver edge when the sun shines from behind it, every misfortune carries a ray of hope.
Just like that, in the gentleman's eyes that valley was a golden opportunity for him to obtain his ultimate goal.
On February 14th, the Valentine's Day, in the morning when the replica of the gentleman arrived in the hut on the valley, the gentleman was still in that situation.
After waiting for a while, he finally opened his eyes.
"You brought everything?"
"Yes."
"Put on those things here in front of me..."
Hearing that command, the replica closed its eyes. Instantly, the shadow returned back from the replica to the main body. Within a second, the mummified body got broken into eight pieces. Each piece slowly began to glow in various radiant colors.
Seeing those pieces, the gentleman became overwhelmed in extreme joy that, in that spot he started prancing in excitement.
However, after a few moments, he gained his composure and became solemn.
He gradually began to absorb those eight pieces within his physical body, as if he was adorning herself with jewelries.
After that, he dissapeared from his place. Only a message with a mixture of laughter and wailing kept echoed across the valley...
"City, prepare to face destruction. It's time for some disclosures..."